The present disclosure relates generally to systems, devices, controllers, and methods for use in a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, and more specifically, to turret systems and windlass assemblies for use in FPSO vessels.
In general, a vessel, such as a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, may be used to extract valuable hydrocarbons from a natural reservoir source located at a particular area under a bottom of a body of water (such as an ocean, sea, etc.). The extraction process may take several years for large reservoirs, and typically less time may be required for smaller (marginal) reservoirs.
In order to perform the extracting of such hydrocarbons, the FPSO vessel is required to be securably positioned relative to a location on the bottom of the body of water. Due to the large size of FPSO vessels, this is generally achieved by using a plurality of mooring lines having anchors at its distal end. In preparation for doing so, a tremendous amount of planning, including, but not limited to, measuring the depth range of each location to be anchored, calculating tension requirements of each of the mooring lines, calculating length requirements of each of the mooring lines, calculating number of mooring lines required, etc. Once preparations are complete, a distal end of each mooring line is pulled from the FPSO vessel using small vessels and dropped to anchor to a location on the bottom of the body of water. Each mooring line is then tensioned based on the pre-calculations, and fixedly secured to a turret system of the FPSO vessel.